Amazon Echo Full Guide: Everything To Know On What It Can Do, How To Use Alexa [Video]

By Harsh Soni

If you're looking for an excellent Christmas gift that won't be burden on to your bank account but will definitely impress, then you need to check out Best Buy's Amazon Dot deal. The deal has Alexa-powered SmartHub priced for just $39.99 - down from $49.99.

Amazon Echo and Dot have been getting rave reviews since they were released in the US. After a wait of two years, Amazon Echo is getting a UK release date and it will also be available in white colour as well. Amazon confirmed the news this week.

Alexa is supremely clever, more than any other AU in existence right now. Amazon has invested a lot of time and money into its AI. As AI-powered smart-hubs go, Amazon Echo is a long way in front of Google Home, its nearest and dearest competitor.

Amazon Echo has had tons of praise on it since launch and the device has been open to third party developers, which has added in a raft of new features and utilities.

Below are some of the things that Amazon's Echo can do:

Plays music from Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and more using just your voice commands.
Fills the room with immersive, 360º omni-directional audio
Hands-free convenience with voice-control
Hears you from across the room with far-field voice recognition, even while music is playing
Answers questions, reads audiobooks and the news, reports traffic and
Controls lights, switches, and thermostats with compatible WeMo, Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, Wink, Insteon, Nest, and ecobee smart home devices
Always getting smarter and adding new features.
Thousands of skills like Uber, Domino's, and more

But the real power in Echo and Alexa is that third-parties can tie into the speaker to add new abilities to it. Amazon has called these new abilities "skills" and you can know it as voice controlled UI-free apps. The more you add, the more proficient and useful Echo becomes.

Echo will check for new software updates each night, you can also force Echo to search for updated software right away. To do this simply press and hold the mute button on the top of Echo and let it sit in mute mode for 30 minutes.

The Amzazing Echo is coming in two variants, the standard Echo and the cheaper, smaller Echo Dot. Both perform the same functions, but the Dot lacks the more powerful speaker. Right now, you can buy the Echo for $139.99 and the Echo Dot for $39.99, as per Wareable.